Friday, December 5, 2008

Blood in our Hands

Our mother is suffering.
She is dying.
She is tortured and raped
By hands who are without guilt.
Burnt and wounded,
There is no end in sight.
Her anguish can be heard,
But no one listens.
Her pain seethes through the heart,
But which hadn't moved a soul.

Our country is our mother.
She gave us life.
She is the air we breathe,
Our reason for being.
Her bosom is our rest.
Worthy sons and daughters
Have come and gone.
Left are vultures
Pounding on her flesh.

She suffered once the torture of a despot.
Mercifully resurrected by the death of a hero.
The power of the people has triumphed.
It not only can but it should, again.
Twice the power was seen
And twice it prevailed.

Yet our country is still down on its knees.
We are perceived to be one of the most corrupt in Asia.
Our people feel hungrier than most of the world.
Many live in desperate conditions,
Yet they remain unseen,
Under the bridge,
Below plain sight.
People die in hospitals,
Poverty is their only disease.
Babies cry for help.
Yet vultures pounces on.
It's politics as usual.

But the most important question is,
The one that would haunt us the rest of our lives...
The question we must ask ourselves is...
Where are we in all of this?

“All that is necessary for evil to triumph
is that good men do nothing.” -Edmund Burke

By doing nothing,
We not only have not done anything.
We allow injustice to prevail,
Inequities to happen.
Not only is it our responsibility
but our moral duty to God and country
To fight against tyranny,
The tyranny of poverty.
If we do nothing,
We are unredeemed.
We have blood in our hands.

But everything is not lost.
We have what it takes.
We have triumphed in the past,
Not once, but twice.
We can do it again, albeit differently.
We can do something.
The possibilities are endless.
Doing nothing is not an option.
Busyness is no excuse.

Let us do what we can.
Read. Learn. Listen.
Get involved.
Talk. Shout. Demand.
Choose. Move. Change.
Join. Unite.
Follow.
Lead.

-- Lead Philippines

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